Happy 4th Birthday To The House Of Swag...Well, Belated.

Mmmmmmmm, Chocolate...

On Tuesday, I decided to look up the states for both the House of Swag and The Sports Room. I'm not an egomaniac or anything. I just like to see if anyone is reading the blogs and if so, how many people are reading them at any given time. I'm very pleased with the amount of followers and readers The House Of Swag has. The Sports Room needs some love, so I need to think of ways to drum up readership who want to read about my sports collections (Do you? Head over to www.thesexygeekssportsroom/blogspot.com). Before I closed out the stats page, I decided to take a look at the very first blog I posted on The House Of Swag. When I read it, I got a bit of a surprise.

The House Of Swag had turned 4 years old this past Monday.

I was totally oblivious to the fact that my blog had turned the big 4. In blog years, that's a pretty big deal. I have seen good bloggers call it quits for one reason or another, but not I. I either love what I do or maybe I am an egomaniac. Either way, I was quite pleased to see that after 4 years, I still have a blog that has followers and has some great readers who keep it going.

One of the great things about this blog is the friends I have made who not only have their own blogs or run websites that take the time to regularly read my blog. To those, I say thank you so much for the kid words you have left me over the years. You guys have been so good to me, I can't thank you enough for the support.

I would like to give a special thanks to the following:

One of my closest friends, Jose Betencourt, who runs Talking About Games site, for the invaluable words of encouragement and support. Thanks so much. Check out his awesome site here:http://talkingaboutgames.com/

Brian Adams (no, not the 1980's Canadian singer), who runs and writes Cool And Collected. I want to thank you for all the words of advice you have offered.You have always made time to answer my emails and questions on how I can make The House Of Swag better as well as allowing me to be a member of The League Of Extraordinary Bloggers. Thanks for all that you do for all of us geeks and for me personally. Drool over his Batman, King King and Spacemen collections here: http://coolandcollected.com/

A big thanks to my buddy John over at The Batcave Toy Room. John is my geeky brother from another mother. We both, as well as Brian, collect the same things and John always has great Batman and Star Wars toys that I drool over when he posts them up on his blog. John, I want to thank you for the friendship you have given me as well as some awesome advice. You always have been great and it's much appreciated. Check out the batcave here: http://www.batcavetoyroom.com/

Also a huge thank you goes out to my buddy, Josh, better known as Dodger Bobble. He was one of my very first readers when the House Of Swag was a sports only blog. Josh has been a great friend to me and we always chat baseball, autographs and bobbleheads. I recently got to hang out with Josh when I was out n L.A. at the Dodgers game and he was a terrific host. Thanks for the friendship Josh. Your a great man. Read about his bobbleheads and autographs here: http://www.dodgerbobble.com/

Some of the others who have been a part of the blog just by reading and leaving comments are Hobgoblin, jboypacman, William West and San Jose Fuji. Thanks for the support guys. Check out their blogs here:

http://revengefromthecosmicark.blogspot.com/

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.com/

http://www.williambrucewest.com/

http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/

Also, a big thanks to my three team collector buddies, Chris Donati, Chris Goodell and Mark Scaramuzzi for always reading and supporting the site. Thanks so much guys.

If I forgot to mention you, drop me a line and I will correct that post haste.

Finally, I have 2 more people to thank that are a huge part of my personal life.

First, to my buddy, George. He is the geeky Ying to my Yang, He is the one who introduced me to conventions and flea markets. Proved that you can rock a Barnabas Collins t shirt and still be super cool. Knows more about pop culture than I will probably ever know in 10 lifetimes. I thank you for all the encouragement and support you have shown this blog and to me personally over the 23 years we have been buds. Thanks for being the original Sexy Geek.

And I want to thank my Gina. Your encouraging words mean so much to me, especially when I begin to doubt my abilities. You always make sure you are the first one to read the blog and I absolutely appreciate the critique you give me afterward. Just knowing that you appreciate the geeky side of me and encourage me to express it means more than I can ever express in words. Every Sexy Geek needs a Hot Lady by his side and I am thankful that I have you. I love you for letting me be me.

These 4 years writing The House Of Swag has gone by pretty quick. I like to believe that this blog has gotten better over the years and I would love for it to continue to grow. I do have ideas on what I would like to do with it and hope that maybe some of them may actually come to light.

Stick around. The next 4 years should be just as cool as the last 4 were. I promise you, I will continue to be be sexy and geeky like I have been. Now, where's my damned cake? What do you mean there is no milk??